Wyld Odyssey Character Generation
The character generation rules have been modified from standard as follows below. Available character types are Solars, Lunars and Alchemicals. Sidereals are just too broken as-is to be playable, and Dragon-Blooded are just not strong enough, nor are Jadeborn. Abyssals who came with the exiles have long been redeemed, either pre- or post- mortem, and SOP is to kill any Abyssals or Infernals who manage to get aboard, with pre-execution interrogation if possible, so those character types are out. It is important to note that the rules below are not merely a re-hash of those found in another book. They have been completely rewritten from rules inspirations found in Exalted: Second Edition, Dreams of the First Age Book. 2: Lords of Creation, Manual of Exalted Power: The Alchemicals, Manual of Exalted Power: Lunars, and the Ink Monkeys, as well as the Scroll of Errata. :Bear in mind that this is still a work in progress, and until further notice should not be considered immutable. =Solar Character Generation= Step 1: Concept Before you even begin to think about putting stats to character sheet, you need to think about this: Who are you? Is your character a scion of the population of Autochthonia? Did her family come from Creation two millennia ago, or seven? In what part of Autochthonia did she grow up in, does she still have family ties back to the old country, or has she forsaken such attachments out of the realization that all of Autochthonia needs her? Or perhaps she's one of the Creation-Born, recently thawed out, in which case her last memories before being thawed out would be of having been sucked into the air by terrifying emerald beams and pulled in towards a mammoth, floating metal thing that blotted out the sun for good portions of the early morning and late evening, then having been frozen in crystal by a terrifying metal spider, before being decrystallized again and carefully (and calmly) explained to about what had transpired. Perhaps she's the descendant of decrystallized parents, or grandparents, or great-grandparents. Has her family intermingled with the Autochthonian stock, or have they stubbornly bred only with other Creation-Born or descendants thereof? Are they happy, or even overjoyed, for this new world, or can they not get over the presence of metal all around them? *People of all sorts were rescued from creation, in numbers sufficient to ensure that their long-term survival was viable. If necessary, more could always be genetically diversified by using Craft (Genesis). *This includes both the major and mechanically identical ethnicities, such as the Djala people or the various peoples with wild hair, as well as more mechanically 'interesting' groups such as the People of Air, of whom there are about 3,000 currently living in Autochthonia, usually aft towards the Pole of Vacuum which is more prone to having high places where wings can be spread, or even working on the hull, where their innate three-dimensional thinking and lack of vertigo can be handy. Fighter pilots are not uncommonly these as well. Beastmen are not out of the question, though Raksi's apemen and Ma-Ha-Suchi's goatwolf-men are, as they were annihilated with extreme prejudice during the century of war, and any surviving individuals sucked out of the wilds before departure were terminated, not frozen. *If you want to play a character of a mechanically 'interesting' group, you have to pay for the positive mutations that make that group out of your bonus points. Of course, knowing where your character's genetic legacy comes from, is only a start. She needs to have grown up somewhere. Most of the nations within Autochthonia are deliberately left nebulous, so that a player can define them herself. Some might say this is laziness on the part of the Storyteller, and the Storyteller would agree with them. However, it also offers up to the player (or at least, the first player to get their words in) of a character from that place the freedom to decide what has become. The way to do this is to read through Manual of Exalted Power: Alchemicals to find a base Autochthonian society. Decide whether (or not) they took in significant numbers of refugees from amongst the Creation-Born during the Century of War, as Estasia and Gulak did, or if they did not. What part did they play during the Century - were they amongst those who held tight to Denandsor, picking over it's ruins for magitech, or did they join the battles in large numbers? Did they prospect for and strip barren the resources that the peoples clustered around Denandsor, far below Autochthon's world-body, so desperately needed? And what happened to them once they were brought back aboard Autochthonia, the world-body of Bathistophon? Where did they settle - close to the hull, to the core, or in the middle? Autochthonia is massive beyond reason - go ahead and picture a Death Star, since I know it's what's popping into your head. Now make it bigger. Not as big as a terrestrial planet like Earth, but big. Instead of being arranged vertically, top to bottom as Autochthonia was in ages past, now it's decks are arranged such that your feet are pointing towards the very center, and your head is up towards the hull - like the layers of an onion. Where did they settle - who did they mesh with, who did they not mesh with? How has their culture changed? The Divine Ministers ceased actively trying to halt changes in Autochthonian society, not because dogma was no longer important to Bathistophon, but because the Celestial Exalted would never have tolerated attempts to shoehorn them into the same subservient role as Autochthon's Champions. Those measures they took were intended only to prevent conflicts erupting, not to prevent the societies themselves from changing. So, who do you come from? Did you Exalt from amongst the population of Estasia-Lookshy, which evolved into exactly what it's name would suggest, or were you Chosen from amongst the Great Convergence, or from another place - it's up to you. Perhaps none of the above - perhaps you were amongst the crew of one of the flying Patropoli, who consider themselves first and foremost Autochthonians, not members of any individual nation within. Under what circumstances did you Exalt? Opportunities for violent heroism have been slim during the Long Years, but that doesn't mean they were nonexistent - and there are more circumstances than violence during which a person might be Chosen by the Unconquered Sun. During the years in which Autochthonia was passing through the Wyld, one Twilight and several Air-Caste Terrestrials underwent their Exaltation whilst free-climbing to the top of towers projecting Autochthonia's stability fields during impending Wyld Storm conditions. Great orators might have Exalted during intense debates, Nights have Exalted during the hunt for Yozi cults and Infernal Exalted, and so forth and so on. Or perhaps you Exalted more recently, during the war with the Slavers - maybe you were a fighter pilot who disobeyed orders and in so doing saved a lot of lives, or at least show down a hell of a lot of the enemy. Perhaps you were amongst the assistants on the research teams who developed the raw theory delivered by Bathistophon into the Star-Tunnel Drive, and Exalted when you made a breakthrough that even experienced Exalted researchers missed, or perhaps you were a wandering proselytizer, preaching the faith of the Sun to the masses, taking risks to do so in places where religious freedoms are not permitted. You must know yourself before you may proceed. Once you know who your character is, you can assign her one of the five Castes of the Solar Exalted (Exalted, pages 90-100), and state definitively her Heroic Motivation (Exalted, page 88.) Step 2: Attributes There are three categories of Attributes: physical, social, and mental, as detailed in Exalted, on pages 101 and 102. Choose three classifications: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. All of your nine Attributes begin at 1 for free. Distribute eight additional points into your Primary attributes, six additional points into your Secondary attributes, and four into your Tertiary attributes. Please remember that 2 is the human norm, and you had better have a very good reason for being so supremely deficient in any attribute that the average mortal man off the street is your superior. Step 3: Abilities All characters who grow up in Autochthonia receive some form of formal education, though the nature of it may vary. You know your Caste abilities, and mark off your five Favored abilities as normal. *Allocate one free dot to your choice of Bureaucracy, Socialize or Presence to represent what kind of interaction training you were given; operating through formalized systems of forms and procedures, learning to analyze and use the zeitgeist of the society, or interpersonal communications. The vast majority of Autochthonians take the Bureaucracy dot. *You gain Lore 1, Occult 1, and a free Lore or Occult specialization in the field of education you were taught within. You also gain Linguistics 1, as most people are expected to be at least bilingual; the second language is usually (though not always) either some form of lingo used primarily by the various machine gods, elementals, and automata (which you probably will not be able to pronounce,) or some kind of holy speech used in reverence and between ecclesiastical persons. *Hard labor is still performed by humans, but everyone is educated with the hope that they will contribute in a more meaningful fashion. You may distribute two dots among the following 'vocational' Abilities: Bureaucracy, Craft, Investigation, Larceny, Martial Arts, Medicine, Occult, Performance, Ride, and Sail. Strictly speaking, Larceny and Martial Arts are not formally educated Abilities (usually, though Martial Arts might be in some places,) but they tend to be developed by layabouts, malingerers, and those who don't take happily to formal education being free for all (and compulsory), but made good trade as youngsters roughing up other students or pinching their lunch. **The above educational programs apply to all Autochthonian-born characters who are not Alchemical Exalted. Those who Exalt as the Chosen of the Sun are typically given some form of personal training; perhaps you were taken under-wing by an older Exalt of your Caste, or perhaps you defied type and were taken under-wing by a member of another Caste with whom your Favored abilities struck a strong resonance. Or perhaps you found the Solar Monorail Chirmirajen pulling up next to you as the golden fires of your Exaltation faded, an open door beckoning, and were taken aboard the Daystar. *You may always choose to have your Caste's development background. You may also choose to have taken the development background of the Caste in which you have the highest concentration of Favored abilities, or you may instead choose to have taken the Daystar development background. This choice will influence more than your Abilities, so you may want to come back and change this one later. **Dawn Training: Two dots in (pick one) Archery, Martial Arts, Melee or Thrown; one dot in Ride or Sail; War 1 **Zenith Training: Performance 2, Presence 1, Socialize or Integrity 1. **Twilight Training: Craft 1, Lore 1, Medicine 1, Occult 1. **Night Training: Investigation 2, Stealth 1; one dot in Archery, Martial Arts, Melee or Thrown. **Eclipse Training: Integrity 1, Linguistics 1, Bureaucracy 1, one dot in Performance, Presence, Ride, Sail or Socialize. *Daystar Training: Distribute four points at your pleasure between Sail, Craft and Integrity; none may receive more than two dots. After noting down all your freebies, allocate 10 dots amongst your Caste and Favored abilities, with each of your Favored abilities requiring at least one ability dot from these ten. Once that's done, allocate fifteen more Ability dots as you see fit. You also receive four free Specialization points to allocate as you see fit as well. *'You ''may raise an Ability to 5 without spending Bonus Points.' **All praise to the Ink Monkeys. Step 4: Advantages Advantages are a variety of interesting traits that are not ranked and usually do not form dice pools. Backgrounds Backgrounds measure intangible traits that a character possesses and can use to her advantage, such as material possessions, social status, personal possessions and other such qualities. Solar Exalted begin with 12 points in Backgrounds to distribute as they see fit. They also receive backgrounds as appropriate to what sort of training they underwent. *Dawn Training: You receive three dots of Artifact rating for every dot you buy instead of two (see below), but the third dot must be a weapon, some form of armor, or a transport artifact, or the means to power one of such. Alternatively, you receive Arsenal 1 (See Backgrounds page for more information) for free, and may buy up to Arsenal 3 at character generation. *Zenith Training: You receive a free dot of Cult, and a three-dot Mentor background representing some form of Exalt or divinity (Autochthonian or otherwise.) *Twilight Training: Split four dots between Savant and Panoply and Artifact as you please. *Night Training: Split four dots between Allies and Connections as you see fit, to a minimum of zero. You may upgrade these background with further background dots at your pleasure. *Eclipse Training: Split four dots between Followers, Backing, Resources, Familiar, or Class (''Alchemicals page 94-95), as you please. *Daystar Training: You've worked aboard Dirigible Engine Daystar when you were a young Exalt, having made the personal acquaintance of the Sun, Nysela, Bannery-Bu, and a number of other unique divinities and personalities, such as the Solar Monorail Chirmirajen and other Daystar-dwellers. Receive Mentor 5 (Daystar) to represent this amazing access, which includes being able to board the Daystar more or less at will.You also get a commemorative Chejop Kejak bobblehead, sold by someone in the Gransol Terminus who you suspect is actually a Sidereal Exalt. Unlike the original, this one has a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up. Charms *Each Solar character begins with twelve Charms. **'No sum of these Charms is required to be from Caste or Favored abilities; you may choose any Charms you meet the prerequisites for.' ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. Virtues Your character gets five dots to divide among the four Virtues. *No rating can go above 4 without spending bonus points. **Virtues cost 1 bonus point to raise. ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. **Choose a Virtue that is rated at 3 or higher as your character's Primary virtue. ***It should tie in with your character's Motivation. ***Do not choose a Virtue Flaw. You no longer suffer the Great Curse. ****All praise to The Great Maker. Finishing Touches *Your Solar Exalted begin with a permanent Essence rating of 3. *You receive 18 Bonus Points to spend as you please. ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. **Charms cost 4 bonus points, 3 if within a Caste or Favored Ability. ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. *The Character's Willpower begins at 5. It is not affected by Virtues. **Additional dots of Willpower may be purchased for one Bonus Point each. ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. *A Solar begins play with (Willpower + Compassion) Intimacies without spending bonus points. **All praise to the Ink Monkeys. *Calculate your character's Personal Essence Pool as (x 3 + Willpower). Her Peripheral Essence Pool is equal to (x 7 + Willpower + Sum of All Virtues). *A Solar begins with seven health levels (-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated). **A Solar gains an additional -4 health box for every dot of Stamina and Essence they possess. (Not factored in). ***All praise to the Storyteller. =Lunar Character Generation= So you want to be one of Luna's Chosen? All right... Step 1: Character Concept Who are you? Why did Luna choose you? The kind of person who Exalts as a Solar is not the kind who Exalts as a Lunar. A Solar is Chosen by Sol Invictus (well, by the Shards created by Sol, anyway,) for greatness above all things. It might choose to Exalt someone who fights valiantly in defense of something, but it is the valor of the struggle that Exalts one as a Chosen of Sol; but it is the persistence in the face of adversity that gets one Chosen by Luna. There is a fair bit of overlap, but primarily the Lunars are Stewards first and foremost and they are awesome in the pursuit of their stewardship, whereas a Solar is Awesome first and foremost, and stewarding something may be what they do that is Awesome. Who or what are you the steward of? Some Stewards exalted out of nothing less than sheer bloody-minded refusal to die; in effect their will to survive was so great that they stewarded themselves. Some are self-appointed (or in some cases, officially-appointed) protectors and guardians. Some may Exalt in the defense of a loved one, or a loved place, person, or even an idea. Solars are proactive, initiative-taking people. Lunars are more primal, more reactive. All Lunars, even those who Exalt having never seen a green growing thing or any animal which may be remotely considered wild have this trait; as such, even those who are city-born are acutely aware at all times of the thoroughly unnatural setting in which they have been Exalted. Alone among the Exalted, Solars and Alchemicals are at home here; you must struggle to find a peace which does not come naturally. You may find this, as other Lunars do, by surrounding yourself with the growing green things that live in the many greenhouses on the surface of Autochthonia, or even by visiting the Silver Chair as often as possible, to bask in the mercurial and natural feeling of Autochthonia's larger, less incandescent satellite. So figure out, who are you? Where did you come from? (Feel free to refer back to the Solar section for more information on this.) Caste In ancient history, there were five Lunar Castes, but in the wake of the Usurpation and the Lunars' subsequent self-exile in the Wyld, these broke, mutating, consolidating down. In response to this horrifying revelation, the ancient Lunar sorcerers responded by developing a system of Moonsilver Tattoos, allowing them to lock a Lunar's caste down. Two of the original castes, the Full Moon and No Moon; Luna's designated warriors and thinkers respectively, survived relatively unscathed. The Waxing, Waning, and Half Moons did not: instead, they amalgamated into the Changing Moon Caste, and they are Luna's socialites and seducers. There is a fourth option. In the Age of Sorrows, the Casteless Lunars were typically those who had yet to be found by the Silver Pact and subsequently undergo their Trials and have their Moonsilver tattoos implanted, their bodies and Castes solidified. This was considered dangerous, as the risk of becoming a Chimera - a mindless, ravening beast with the power of a Lunar and none of the mind of a human being and little or none of the soul - was tremendous, and members of the Silver Pact would put down any of their own that they believed to have become Chimerae. This is not the Age of Sorrows, but the option to remain Casteless is still there. With the mechanics of the Great Curse understood and long-gone, however, the risk of becoming a Chimera is vanished as well. A Lunar who chooses to remain Casteless still runs the risk of developing Wyld mutations and even mental derangements, but a fix for these problems is no further away than the nearest Solar with Order-Affirming Blow, a Charm that all Solars whose mates are Casteless invariably learn sooner or later. This has yet to become a serious problem - a few Casteless have developed some unstable mental derangements, but they were healed before they could cause any damage. Should a major incident occur, the Lunar Deliberative might be forced to seriously contemplate whether tattoos should become mandatory or not; for now, those who choose not to join the ranks of the Caste-advantaged are tolerated, if warily wondered about and perhaps teased. Spirit Shape and Tell It is largely through the efforts of the Lunar Exalted that indoor parks have come to spring up in major Autochthonian cities; and this is readily understood, for example, when one sees Starlit Ursa, who Exalted near the end of the Wyld Crossing, in her true form in the middle of the main park in the shadow of the Tripartite Pagoda in Estasia-Lookshy, a mammoth, dark-furred bear with star-patterns in her fur, laying down and happily letting the children of Estasia-Lookshy climb over her or lean back into her. Seven hundred years ago, when she first Exalted whilst defending a flock of youngsters from a Yozi cult and their summoned demon, the late-twentys schoolteacher and mother of two unnerved the people of Estasia-Lookshy with her strange organic and inhuman forms. Six hundred years ago, when she caused the park to be built and took to sleeping in it in bear form, none but the bravest would even touch the grass. Now the mother-bear of Estasia-Lookshy considers the whole nation to be her cubs, not the least of which because she's older than all but some of the Champions and the eldest of Terrestrials, and she loves the feeling of small (and not-so-small) hands running through her fur as their owners pass by on their way to school or work. Such is the nature of a Lunar's spirit shape. Starlit Ursa had only a vague idea what in the heck a 'bear' was when she Exalted, but the nature of Lunar Exaltation does not care. One's Spirit Shape does not even necessarily need to have been an animal from Creation; as long as you have 'cultural exposure' to an animal (not necessarily even you, personally; suffice to say that if Luna's all-seeing gaze from the Chair could have seen it, it could possibly be you,) then it could be a valid target for your spirit shape. *No, you may not choose an animal from the movie Avatar. Luna has yet to see Pandora. If she ever does, it's unlikely she can be can convinced to leave for any reason, or by any attempts to talk her away save the combined pleading of Gaia and the Sun. Sorry, no Thanator for you... Yet. Otherwise, choose your Spirit Shape and Tell as normal for a Lunar. Consult Manual of Exalted Power: Lunars, pages 98 and 126-130. Shapes and Shifting in Autochthonia Without the benefit of familiarity with large numbers of animals, mortals in Autochthonia are likely to be unnerved by a Lunar in a form which is not their own. However, owing to the rarity of most animals ''within Autochthonia, they are likely to recognize most animals as a Lunar immediately, unless the animal type is common where they live. There are more animals in Autochthonia now than in the past. The Creation-Born brought their pets with them, and so in addition to rats and roaches, one may now find housecats and dogs among the Autochthonians, though not in tremendous numbers. If you want a stealthy animal form that will go unnoticed, it's pretty much going to be an urban rodent of some kind; as a consequence, all Lunars in Autochthonia except the very young have a rat or mouse shape of some sort, and the Humble Mouse Shape knack. Some have even gone so far as to conduct the sacred hunt on examples of specific varieties of rodentia found in different parts of Autochthonia. There is a knack to conduct the Sacred Hunt on a human target. However, in Autochthonia this is murder, and is not tolerated. Every city has it's Champions, who would absolutely violently object to this sort of behavior - as a consequence, the Lunar Deliberative takes pains to make it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated by them. There are exceptions. A Lunar who is participating in an inquisition against Yozi cults generally has free reign to do to the cultists as he or she pleases, and being able to take the Heart's Blood of a cultist that one can isolate, take the form of, finish out his shift as, then infiltrate his group as, is a powerful enough weapon that the powers that be in a given city will not only sanction the killing but provide Champion support to cover it up and ensure it goes down smoothly. Likewise, some Autochthonian Lunars may have the Heart's Blood of Apostate Alchemicals or Abyssal Exalted or Infernal Exalted from the hunts of such creatures; they may also, rarely, be permitted to conduct the Sacred Hunt on felons convicted to die for capital crimes. Typically this involves releasing said felon into the reaches and telling them that if they get away, they're free to go. (So far, they've never managed to get away.) Aside these exceptions, however, taking the Heart's Blood of a human is not permitted. What, exactly, would be done if a rogue Lunar decided to violate that comport themselves by such behavior is not known; thankfully, it's never happened. Those rare Lunars who wish to take human false forms are looked at askance by their peers, but have so far restricted their activities to sanctioned ones. Some nations may make an effort to keep a file of known Lunar false-forms, especially in the case of convicted felons and sanctioned kills, but such files are State Secrets and will remain that way, so as to prevent the fact that a Lunar can take a human false form from worrying the public. What about the original five Castes? It's not entirely inconceivable that a Lunar survived the First Age in some kind of safehouse within Creation that never exposed him to the Wyld taint of the others, and thus he carried a Lunar Shard as Luna made them. If he died recently, his undamaged Shard would allow his descendant to wind up as one of the original five Lunar Castes instead of the three consolidated (or Casteless) that were known in the Age of Sorrows and survive in most Lunars into the Third Age. If you absolutely must play such a Lunar, go ahead and pick one of the original five Castes from Dreams of the First Age, but only the Silver Chair background is available to you, as Luna is certain to want to be close to such a Lunar during their formative days and years. At least skin-tight, and quite possibly closer than that. *Yes, a character with an unbroken Caste may still take the Moonsilver Tattoos at their discretion. Step 2: Attributes Note down your three Caste Attributes as determined by your Caste, and your Favored attribute as normal, adjusting as necessary for playing a headache-inducing nonstandard Lunar as applicable. All Lunars gain two additional dots to place in Caste or Favored attributes. Step 3: Abilities A Lunar, sharing the same upbringing as all naturally-born Autochthonians, undergoes the same training that all Autochthonians do, from early education up to vocational training. *Allocate one free dot to your choice of Bureaucracy, Socialize or Presence to represent what kind of interaction training you were given; operating through formalized systems of forms and procedures, learning to analyze and use the zeitgeist of the society, or interpersonal communications. The vast majority of Autochthonians take the Bureaucracy dot. *You gain Lore 1, Occult 1, and a free Lore or Occult specialization in the field of education you were taught within. You also gain Linguistics 1, as most people are expected to be at least bilingual; the second language is usually (though not always) either some form of lingo used primarily by the various machine gods, elementals, and automata (which you probably will not be able to pronounce,) or some kind of holy speech used in reverence and between ecclesiastical persons. *Hard labor is still performed by humans, but everyone is educated with the hope that they will contribute in a more meaningful fashion. You may distribute two dots among the following 'vocational' Abilities: Bureaucracy, Craft, Investigation, Larceny, Martial Arts, Medicine, Occult, Performance, Ride, and Sail. Strictly speaking, Larceny and Martial Arts are not formally educated Abilities (usually, though Martial Arts might be in some places,) but they tend to be developed by layabouts, malingerers, and those who don't take happily to formal education being free for all (and compulsory), but made good trade as youngsters roughing up other students or pinching their lunch. **As a Lunar, note now that you cannot raise abilities above 3 without spending Bonus Points. **The above educational programs apply to all Autochthonian-born characters who are not Alchemical Exalted. You also receive specialized, personal training on an ad-hoc basis from an elder mentor of some sort. This choice affects both Caste and Casteless Lunars; Caste Lunars get this training from a member of their Caste, while Casteless can choose to receive training from a member of one of the Castes in which their Favored abilities lie. All Lunars may also be chosen (at Luna's whim) for Silver Chair training; Lunars of an Unbroken Caste may only 'select' this, as Luna wants such characters to be very, very close indeed. *Full Moon: One dot in either Archery, Martial Arts, Melee or Thrown; Resistance 1; Survival 1; one dot in either War, Sail, or Ride. *No Moon: Craft 1, Lore 1, Occult 1, Survival 1 *Changing Moon: Survival 1, distribute 3 dots across Performance, Presence, Stealth and Larceny at your pleasure. *Silver Chair: Survival 1; one dot in Presence or Performance; one dot in your choice of Archery, Martial Arts, Melee, or Thrown; one dot in your choice of Stealth, and Resistance. Note that the choice you make now will become important later in Step 4. Unless you're an Unbroken Caste Lunar, you may wish to come back to revise this option. If you're an Unbroken Caste Lunar, get used to Luna owning your ass - frequently. Step 4: Advantages Advantages are those things which do not usually add to dice pools, but can be helpful nonetheless - they are often 'intangibles', or tangibles which aren't an inherent part of your character. Backgrounds Lunar Exalts begin with 10 dots in Backgrounds. Also, you receive a background as appropriate to your caste training, as follows: *Full Moon: Physical prowess is the birthright of your Second Breath; while violence may be inevitable in the future and you may struggle for peace, nothing can reduce the raw outburst of physical might that the Full Moon Lunars enjoy. You automatically gain Deadly Beastman Transformation, provided you meet it's prerequisite. You may even be known to your Autochthonian kin in this form; Starlit Ursa (though not a Full Moon) reacts with speed and brawn to emergencies within Estasia-Lookshy often faster than that Nation's Champions do so, and more than four score mortal workers have been saved from accidents not by the mechanical might of the Alchemical Exalted, but by the hulking physical puissance of a shaggy, fur-covered mountain. So are you likely known. **If you don't meet the prerequisite Stamina for Deadly Beastman Transformation, your Full Moon mentor likely thinks you're a weakling and threw you some pieces of chew-toy artifice in the hopes that you might make something of yourself before dieing ingloriously. Increase the number of dots worth of Artifact you get when buying that background to three, but one out of three dots of Artifact you purchase must be some form of arms or armor - Tattoo artifacts qualify. *No Moon: As one of the unseen moons, your birthright is Sorcery, and you warp the very reality around you. You automatically gain Terrestrial Circle Sorcery and two spells, one of which is Emerald Countermagic. **If you do not meet the minimum Intelligence requirement for Terrestrial Circle Sorcery, your mentor no doubt thinks you're seven kinds of worthless. Believing you to still need additional training no matter what happens, you retain them as a Mentor with a rating of 3, and they call upon and bind an Elemental of Essence 2 to guard over you until they're convinced you no longer need the assistance, which will probably mean 'when you learn Terrestrial Circle Sorcery.' Gain the Elemental (which is usually though not always one of the Elementals of Creation, though it could be an Autochthonian elemental) as a one-dot Ally. *Changing Moon: Versatility above all is the hallmark of the Changing Moon. Your mentor taught you well that fluidity and speed are far more vital than having a permanent library. Especially in Autochthonia, it may well be more important to be able to be that teacup dog now for an hour than six hours from now forever. You learn Life of the Hummingbird from your mentor. **If you do not meet the Wits prerequisite for Life of the Hummingbird, your mentor no doubt thinks you're hopelessly inflexible and unsuited to spying. She will try to teach you Changing Plumage Mastery, but if you can't master that either, in frustration she hopes for a scatter-shot approach to success, taking you on many Sacred Hunts for animals 'common' around Autochthonia, but she still believes you need guidance. Gain Heart's Blood 2 and Mentor 3. *Silver Chair: Luna chose you, far more literally than most of her Chosen. After you Exalted, your dreams, your daydreams, your stray thoughts, were consumed with the image of the Silver Chair. Instinctively you made your way to the hull, gazing longingly at it, yearning, needing it. When you could no longer take it, you made your way to the Chair by any means at your disposal, you found Luna herself, in one of her many guises, waiting for you to welcome you into the fold. There is where you learned everything you know; Granalkin, Archer on the Silver Pass, tutored you in hunting, in archery and the martial arts, in survival. Tethys on the Untrammeled Path may have set you a-wander in the infinite lunar pathways of the Chair to teach you to find your way home, and may indeed have given you the courage to stage a run-away earlier in life. You wrestled and indulged with the Truculee, their numbers once diminished by the sad time when the Chosen of Luna were forced to sieze their Matron's home by force, replenished to bursting by their long time in the Wyld, and of course, you no doubt learned to love, to attract others, from the Argent Madonna herself. You gain Mentor 5 (Silver Chair,) and have at least the acquaintance of all the dwellers therein, though the Maidens probably will not hear a request from you unless it suits them. Luna may also have offered you the Girdle of the Cthonic Baara (Glories of the Most High: Luna, page 6,) though you will have to purchase it with additional background dots or bonus points if you want it. Charms You start with a sum of 10 Charms and Knacks. You must choose at least four Charms and at least one Knack. *Bugger any nonsense about associating Charms with Caste/Favored attributes. Choose whatever the bloody hell you meet the prerequisites for. **All preemptively praise the Ink Monkeys. Virtues You get five points to divide among the four Virtues. No rating can go above 4 without bonus points. Choose a Virtue of rating 3 or higher to be your primary Virtue. *Don't choose a Virtue Flaw. You no longer suffer the Great Curse. **All praise the Great Maker. Step 5: Finishing Touches *Your Lunar Exalted begin with a permanent Essence rating of 3. *You receive 18 Bonus Points to spend as you please. ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. *The Character's Willpower begins at 5. It is not affected by Virtues. **Additional dots of Willpower may be purchased for one Bonus Point each. ***All praise to the Ink Monkeys. *A Lunar begins play with (Willpower + Compassion) Intimacies without spending bonus points. **All praise to the Ink Monkeys. *Calculate your character's Personal Essence Pool as (Essence + x2). Her Peripheral Essence Pool is equal to (x 4 + x2 + Virtue x4). *A Lunar begins with seven health levels (-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated). **A Lunar gains an additional -0 health box for every dot of Stamina they possess, and an additional -4 health box for every dot of Essence they possess. (Not factored in). ***All praise to the Storyteller. =The Alchemical Exalted= Still the most numerous of the Celestial Exalted, though their numbers have since been eclipsed by the size of the Dragon-Blooded Host, no one may deny without the might of the Alchemical Exalted, the Evacuation could not have succeeded. Step 1: Character Concept You were not born; you never had a mother, or a father. You never knew the joy of laughing alongside your siblings and friends when growing up, never sat on the floor while an honored grandparent kindly gave you sweets and told you stories of the time when that damn Yozi Cultist broke into her dorm when she was a young lady, or the tale of how your grandfather dealt with him by grabbing his gigantic mech-wrench from the wall and brought it crashing down on the cultist's head. You never experienced the awkward feeling of ineptly lusting after someone whilst in the throes of the awkward teenage years. You have been '''forged,' created by the indomitable might of the Great Maker, his power and legacy passed down through the Great Dreamer whom he became; your body was assembled by the hands of mortal men, your soulgem has lived countless lifetimes as a hero. By committee you have been Exalted, Chosen not by the Maker or the Dreamer, but by the vote of a legislature, to be a Champion of a Nation... Or perhaps you were not. Perhaps your soulgem was stolen from a nation's people, spirited off into the night by some clever little machine god, taken to a remote part of Autochthonia where the odd Patropolis who owes no loyalty to any nation is created. Even in these times, the Divine Ministers and Bathistophon himself maintain such places, where the regulatory Champions may be brought to life. In that case, your life is no doubt even lonelier. Where have you come from? Were you Exalted by committee, or by divine decree? With the revelation of the Adamant Caste's existence, the first Adamant was Exalted by the grace of a nation (The Great Convergence) in the year 445 P.E. This also coincided with the Divine Ministers reaching the conclusion that they no longer needed to remain bound to only one Caste of the Champions for their regulatory needs. Such Exalted are not common, but they do exist. Then there's the big question, and one that needs to be worked out with the Storyteller: Why are you given the latitude and leeway to roll out with a group of Celestials? Nobody doubts that you can hack it, but why? Perhaps a Solar took a shine to you and pressured your nation to give you the leeway, or perhaps they decided that your spending time with a group of young Celestials to whom you took a liking was relevant to their interests? Perhaps it was a request from the Divine Ministers, even. Consider your purpose. Who Exalted you, and for what task were you Exalted? Were you chosen to serve a general function, or in response to a specific problem, which may have been solved - most likely by you. Perhaps you were Exalted as a replacement for a Champion who fell in battle, or to replace one who went in for Colossus upgrade. Step 2: Attributes Alchemical Exalted do not prioritize their Attributes as Primary, Secondary and Tertiary the way most forms of Exalt do. As per the normal Alchemical character generation rules, you note down your Caste attributes, choose three Favored attributes. Distribute eight dots into the character's Caste attributes, six dots into her Favored attributes, and four dots into the remaining three Attributes. Finally, add two additional dots to any Favored or Caste attribute in any combination you please, and one dot to your non-Favored attributes. All Caste attributes must be rated at a minimum of 2, but none may be raised above 5. Choose your history adventure Before play commences, your character is assumed to have either gone on some significant adventures, or been inducted into some very rigorous (and potentially dangerous) training programs. These experiences taught you much about how you and others operate. There are seven paths to choose from, and all are open to you; though six of them are named after the Castes of Alchemical Exalted, they represent the ways and means by which you underwent your first experiences. Perhaps you played against type, by choice or by virtue of necessity. *Oricalcum Adventure: The Lunars would call you an Alpha personality. You took charge, took the initiative, whether it was yours to take by vat-right of being Exalted into the ranks of the Oricalcum Caste, or by necessity bubbled up from within some forgotten hero whose lives live on within you. Add one dot to one of the Caste Attributes of the Oricalcum Caste: Strength, Charisma, or Intelligence. *Moonsilver Adventure: You were forced to adapt, far moreso than most Alchemicals. Perhaps you were cut off from support somehow, behind enemy lines; perhaps you had to take on the role you were unsuited to and rose to the challenge. Adaptability and flexibility are hallmarks of yours, whether by birthright or by exigency. You solved a problem, or undertook your duties, as one of the Razors of Autochthon would have. Add one Attribute point to one of the Caste attributes of the Moonsilver Alchemicals; Dexterity, Appearance or Wits. *Jade Adventure: Whether or not they're still called the Populat where you were Exalted, you resonate with the people, and have dealt with your problems the straightforward way. When things needed to be done, you did them; when danger reared it's ugly head, you planted your strong mechanical feet on the deck and stood between it and those unto whom it wished to bestow harm. If not by birth, then your actions have exemplified the ideals of the Jade Caste of the Alchemical Exalted, and you learned their lessons quite well. Add one dot to one of the Attributes that exemplify the Stone Fists: Stamina, Charisma and Wits. *Starmetal Adventure: When things became hectic, you and you alone kept your head, realizing that time spent thinking clearly about your situation is never time wasted. You analyzed the situation calmly, made a plan, and put it into motion with elegant grace worthy of the Sidereal Exalted with whom your body resonates. Clear thought and trickery, subtlety and planning, are your hallmarks, by birthright or by right of proof. You handled the task put before you with precision, in the finest traditions of the Starmetal Caste of the Alchemical Exalted, and learned the lessons of the Whispers. Add one dot to one of the Attributes of the Starmetal Caste; Dexterity, Manipulation and intelligence. *Soulsteel Adventure: When the situation became grim, you reacted immediately to resolve the situation, sacrificing what was necessary to ensure the security of State and Autochthonia. Your actions were not loved - far from it, but you did what had to be done. In stamping out heresy, you may have become overzealous, or simply calculated with broad margins of what defines acceptable collateral damage. Perhaps you delved into forbidden, Void-tainted power on an emergency basis, or perhaps you welded the doors of a factory shut, dooming dozens or hundreds of the Populat to die, in order to prevent an out-of-control cascade release of toxins from belching onto the streets and killing hundreds or thousands. Perhaps a Yozi Cult released some sort of horrifying Blight that slowly and irrevocably mutated those infected into abominations, and you methodically slaughtered those who were infected, even those who had yet to show signs of the mutation. You were yelled at, or stared down at with disapproval; by the Tripartite, by your fellow Chosen. Probably even by a Celestial Exalt; you may have had to endure a Lunar in war-form bellowing straight into your face about murdering those you had a duty to protect, or a Twilight shaking with rage and shouting with grief because a cure for their illness was no farther away than his Medicine Charms, or his Order-Affirming Blow. You survived, and you know that you did what had to be done, and if necessary, you would do it again. Whether you face this with cold certainty, or internal grief that no-one can comprehend is up to you, but you have learned the lessons of the Sentinel. Add one dot to one of the Attributes favored by the Scourges: Stamina, Manipulation, or Perception. *Adamant Adventure: You have learned what loneliness is like, and if it breaks your heart, you must accept it. Moreso even than the Moonsilver and Soulsteel Castes, the actions you took on your journey are unsung, perhaps you yourself do not remember them. In an Autochthonia of adequate lighting you found the shadows to hide your activities. You have a sense of purpose, greater than yourself, greater than any mortal. Early, far earlier than most, you recognize the intertwined nature of Autochthonia, the Daystar, the Silver Chair, and the many, many vessels that fly with them. While you may answer the call of a nation, if a threat large enough looms you know that the important thing which must survive is no one nation, but Autochthonia as a whole. Your fellows may think of you as distant; your eyes are wide, your scope broad, and perhaps it costs you focus in the end. You know that if push comes to shove, you will have to choose the greater good over the lesser good; while every Alchemical knows this, relatively few of them would be as ready as you to admit to themselves (no matter what they may say in public) that the good of humanity as a whole is more important than the good of the humanity that composes their nation. The lessons of the Operatives are yours to learn from, whether or not your soul is Adamant. Add one dot to one of the Attributes which are known for the Adamant Caste: Strength, Appearance or Perception. If your Perception is currently rated at 1, you must raise it to 2. *Crystal Service: Shortly after you were Exalted, you were called away from the place which Exalted you; whatever the designs of those who had you made were, they were frustrated. It was to a higher service which you were called: your early year or years were spent directly subordinated to the Divine Ministers, working in the Elemental Pole of Crystal. Though young, you were taught vital tasks, granted extraordinary access to the Thinker's higher thought functions. Among very few beings, you have access to the Core, and you may readily petition any of the Ministers to be heard; you undoubtedly have the ear of at least an important subroutine, if not a Minister directly. You learned precision and thought in that beautiful place of crystal, and the beauty of that place rubbed off on you: Add one to one of Dexterity, Appearance or Intelligence. This choice will become important later, when picking Backgrounds, so you may wish to come back to it. Step 3: Abilities You were not born; you never got to grow up, and were never able to avail yourself of the educational programs which have become the norm in Autochthonia since the Evacuation. You were made to perform a function, not to learn and grow; but learning and growth are your birthright as a human being, even if you are a human being with only the soul of one. Yours is the power to grow, to adapt. Such is the legacy of the Great Maker. During your early journeys, you have had numerous opportunities to learn new Abilities. Attributes remain your source of power, but even the mightiest raw attribute backed up with mighty charms can fall flat if the requisite knowledge to employ them correctly is absent. You receive 30 dots to distribute at your pleasure amongst the abilities. No ability may be raised above 3 without bonus points. You also recieve 4 dots of specialties, just as Solars do. Step 4: Advantages All Alchemicals who are Exalted in the service of a nation gain the same Class 3 that they have always possessed, even if they are among the Adamant Caste. All those who are Exalted as a Divine Regulator gain the usual Mentor 3, even if they are not among the Adamant Caste. Backgrounds Your backgrounds are part and parcel of who you are. They are the intangibles, sometimes tangibles, which you use to greatest effect. They include your non-integral artifacts, as well as more intangible benefits such as the extensiveness of your spy network, or those beings which are your mentors and allies. *Select your Backgrounds, of which you receive 12. You may raise Artifact higher than 3 without spending Bonus Points. **You get Class 3 for free if you were Exalted by a nation, else a free Mentor 3 if you were Exalted as one of the Regulators of Autochthonia. Your training adventure has a bearing on the Backgrounds you gain: *Oricalcum adventures are highly visible and notable. You gain a free dot of Cult from the nigh-worshipful reverence of a number of members of the Populat who think you're the best thing ever and voraciously devour every rumor and scrap morsel of information about you. You also increase your starting Class to 4 for free, and may distribute two points between the Charm psuedo-background, Command and Savant at your pleasure. *A Moonsilver adventure required you to very unorthodox, to think outside the typical Alchemical paradigm of state and service, Populat and rulers and Champions. You may have developed a spy network, or allies in strange places; choose Connections 2 with some kind of unorthodox sphere of connections (such as being connected amongst the ranks of some type of Celestial Exalt,) or Ally 2 to represent someone or something which would not be found typically among the nations of Autochthonia, such as a machine god or elemental, or a young Celestial Exalt, or an Alchemical from another Nation. You also may spend two additional dots at your pleasure between Artifact, Backing, Cult, Mentor, and even Manse. You may upgrade any of these with additional points at your discretion. * The Jade adventure you undertook made you a folk hero. It puts you in an awkward position as the people look up to you to champion them, while the State expects you to champion the State against the people if necessary, but for now you are celebrated and beloved. The extent of the people who venerate your legend is sufficient to qualify you for an astounding Cult 2, although it is no formal measure of organized worship. Split two dots in combination between Backing, Connections, Eidolon and Reputation as you see fit. * A Starmetal adventure called for coruscating imagination and logical reasoning in equal measures. It taxed your ability to think and observe and innovate, and you are the better for it. Split four dots at your pleasure between Artifact, Eidolon, Savant, and Familiar. Only Artifact may be pushed above rating 3 without spending bonus points. * No-one likes what you did during the course of your Soulsteel adventure. But few have much choice but to respect why you did what you did, even if they contend the matter could have and should have been handled in a better fashion. You did what you had to do; whether it scarred you or hardened you is up to you. Gain a dot of Compassion or Conviction, and three dots to split between reputation and artifact however you see fit. * On your lonely Adamant voyage, you could count on no-one and nothing except that which was metaphysically bound as part of yourself. You were long away from the vats, and could never count on being able to refit. You were forced to seek alternative methods to power, and in that you found enlightenment. The power of the supernatural Martial Arts are yours; you received a Perfected Lotus Array before you set out, and may split three dots between Sifu, Familiar, Eidolon and Artifact as you please. * During the course of your service to Autochthonia at the Pole of Crystal, you were introduced to everything; you stood shifts on the Flying Bridge, you worked long shifts in the Core room itself. You gracefully helped in realigning channels and conduits in the Pole, removed and replaced memory and storage crystals, helped in the processes of optimizing thought pathways, and made the acquaintance of the many movers and shakers of the Bathistophonian pantheon. You may even have been blessed to have a clipped, short conversation with the Core. Pick a Divine Minister, such as the embodiment of hope, Ku, with whom you have become closest during your time at the Core, and gain them as a Mentor 5. You retain access to the Core, and may petition any of the beings within to hear you, but they are under no obligation to answer; on the other hand, they can impose on you. Charms You begin play with 5 Dedicated Charm Slots and 5 General Charm Slots, and may pick 10 Charms to fill them all. Virtues *Select your virtues - you begin with 5 virtue points, and may allocate them as you see fit. Pick a Virtue to be your Primary. **Additional Virtue dots may be purchased for 1 bonus point. Step 5: Finishing Touches *You may spend up to 18 bonus points at any time. *You begin with Essence 3. *Your starting character begins with 5 Willpower. **Additional Virtue dots may be purchased for 1 bonus point. *Personal Essence is equal to (x3) + Willpower), Peripheral Essence is equal to ([Essence x5 + x3 + Virtue x2). *Health levels are the standard 7 (-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap) plus one additional -2 per dot of Essence. Category:Exalted